The Temperature is Dropping

I think it might be time for an update. Our last post was June 4th, so I think it's safe to say that a few things have happened. Big news first, then the trivial details:

1) Rachel passed her Boards! She's closer to becoming a doctor. Now that Year Three has started for her, she's been doing her clerkship rotations. Her first one was at DHMC and the VA and was in Internal Medicine. Though she had some long days, overall her experience was positive. This is especially true about her time at Dartmouth. That rotation finished up at the end of August (with a test, of course, which she also passed, of course) and September finds her completing her Outpatient Pediatrics rotation in Belfast, ME. She is there for another week and then will return back here for Inpatient Pediatrics at DHMC.

2) We've moved. We're now at a 1950 brick bombshelter in Lebanon, NH. Though it's not perfect, there are some perks. We have a garage now(!). Although I had big plans for ripping apart my car this summer those did not unfold. I did, however, park inside when I replaced my right rear wheel bearing.

Those pits are bad.

The first bearing lasted about 189,000 miles and was made in Germany. The new one is from the same manufacturer but made in China. We'll see how their longevity compares. In addition to a garage, we have a yard with some raised beds and a fenced in backyard. The fenced in part is important because it means we can have Denali with us. When she's here we take her running, biking, and swimming, all usually at the Town Forest which is right next door (1,100 acres with a small lake and a LOT of trails). Because we have a lawn we also have a lawn mower, which I love to use. There is a Co-Op just 1.3 miles from us, a VW dealership .6 miles from us, and my work and DHMC/Rachel's second home are both only a ten minute bike ride away. We are also close to town and frequented the happening farmer's market a few times, as well. Overall, we are happy with where we are living.

3) We've attended three weddings thus far this year. One was for our good friends (and CSA splitters) and that was in Boston, during the spring. The second was in August and was for Asha, our old roommate. The most recent one was in Nashville, TN and was for one of Rachel's closest college friends. They've all been fun, but I'll be honest and say that the latest one was the most fun. I was able to put my extensive swing dance lessons to use and we rocked the floor. People gave us a  w i d e  birth. Seriously, though, TN was fun and everybody was really nice. Rachel was in the bridal party so she spent her time ... ? doing girl things? and I spent my time walking around the city, stopping in bike shops and running errands for the ladies. This included picking up a "neutral mauve-ish lip gloss." Whatever that is. Thankfully a girl in the store took pity on me and essentially picked one out. Thank you.

4) In June we managed to tack on one more National Park: Acadia. We have now officially been coast-to-coast. We had a great time making our tenth Park visit. We brought something we didn't bring on our trip last summer: bikes! Acadia has a great system of carriage roads, which are essentially roads made from crushed and compacted stone. They are really fun to ride on, and form a variety of paths throughout the center of the park. We spent our time biking, hiking, exploring tidal pools, and reminiscing about how great last summer was. We visited a botanical garden, too, which was really cool.

For some reason I can't get the sundew to rotate.

Pitcher plant!

This was a short hike later in the day after we did some biking.

Soaking in the rays.

The requisite touching of the Atlantic. It was cooooooooooold.

We came back here the following morning to look at the tide pools.

This is the summit marker for Cadillac Mountain. We've now been to places where the sunlight first hits the Lower 48 and last leaves the 48 (Olympic). Pretty cool. It's also interesting that the true summit is not where all the tourists go, but rather 300 yards away in a scrubby little bald spot.

This was taken from a look-out on the side of Mt. Megunticook in Camden, ME. We spent Labor Day weekend in Belfast and did some hiking and bike shopping. Rachel's host family bought us lobster dinners when we got home. After living in Maine for nearly ten years this was the first time I have had lobster. I think it's over-rated.

While we were sitting at the look-out there was a plane that was gliding over the cliffs. It was shut off and they were just gliding!

Today I ran my first trail race, a 10k. I finished in fifty-eight minutes, taking second in my age group (I think there were only three of us in it, though). The overall winner of the men's group finished in forty-two minutes!!! I also won an Ibex wool beanie as a raffle prize, and got a free (cotton!) t-shirt. I think I did all right for the $20 entrance fee.

I've run out of attention for the trivial details, but I'll throw a few in here:
We pickled seventeen quarts of jalapeno pickle spears and slices.
We've been riding on the rail trail a few times, with company (friends and family from both sides) and without.
We went to Bangor, ME in June (the 6th, to be accurate) to see a DMB concert.
Rachel looked fantastic in her bridesmaid's dress (sorry moms/aunts/sisters/other females, no pics yet)
Jon and Kristen came up and we went biking in northern VT for two days. Then they came down here and we all got to hang out for a day.
Cut up bread tossed with olive oil and grilled over charcoal is REALLY good, especially if you do the same with cherry tomatoes and then eat it all with fresh basil and mozzarella.
I've learned that I like IPAs, but now we're moving back into wine season.
We both think Denali has poor eyesight. It's a good thing we didn't get her as a hunting dog.
We met friends and family in NY and camped for a weekend. We both had a great time and learned that putting peach slices on pancakes while they're cooking is delicious. If the temperature of the griddle is just right, they'll caramelize and be oh-so-yummy.


That's pretty much our lives for the past few months. It was difficult to want to sit down and use the computer with all the nice weather we had. Now that it's cooler and getting dark earlier perhaps we'll post more frequently, but I'm not promising anything. We hope you're all well and had a fun summer.

Back to the Roots

We've made some interesting things lately. Most of them were really tasty.

This is a crepe cake we made for a dinner at a friends house. It took three nights to make, and three rounds of dishes. There are caramelized hazelnuts (or filberts, if you wish) on top and a hazelnut custard in between each crepe.

We got a new paddle for the KitchenAid. It's awesome.

Rhubarb season is here. We've eaten a rhubarb coffee cake (of some sort) each week for the past three (or four?) weeks now. We had one in a glass baking dish that was sitting on the stove. We accidentally turned on the wrong burner so I moved it over to a different burner. A second or two later there was a loud pop and there was glass all over the kitchen. Of course, some shards were hot so the melted into our linoleum a little bit. So, when those dishes say not safe for stovetop use, they really mean it. Next week we'll have more counter space so this shouldn't be a repeat issue...

Steak. We made teriyaki sauce and marinated the steak in it for a few hours.

We got some potatoes from the CSA and cooked them with some bok choy (also from the CSA).

On Saturday a friend and I hiked up to a B-18 crash site in the White Mountains. This was one of the engines.

This is a connecting rod. The plane crashed in January, 1942.

This is the head of a piston.

While driving back we stopped by to check out some interesting cars. This is a 1947 Crosley, which was made in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1939-1952. It's a 4 cylinder, three speed (the shift knob looked like a hand-turned piece of maple) and was available through dealers and Macy's department stores.

This is a three wheeled (one in front) 1974 Reliant Robin. It's 45 hp and 60+ mpg. They were produced in England and not available in the US due to safety regulations (yet somehow this one was registered in NH?). The body is fiberglass (a la Corvette) and it claims to have a low center of gravity and is fun to drive. It has 13" tires.

Warm Buns

Well. I hope you're sitting down because this is the second post in a week. We haven't posted this frequently since our trip.

This weekend was enjoyable. We ended up having some decent weather even though the forecast was iffy. On Saturday I went down to the Pick and Pull in Candia and was able to find some parts I needed. On my way back I stopped in and saw Aunt Audrey. We watched the rest (third period) of the Bruins game, which was fun. I then helped her with some yard work, hopped in the car and made it back home in time to shower and head out to a dinner with Rachel.

Today I ran the wiring for my heated seats. I am happy to say that they work and there wasn't any smoke or blown fuses. It did take about six hours, but that included some very thorough vacuuming while my front seats were out and I also switch over the front seatbelt buckles to some shorter ones. It's good that I did that, too, because the wires on the driver's side were frayed, which could have resulted in some very annoying electrical issues down the road.

I just took one picture for the day. Enjoy.

Rachel came out to help for a little while.

One night this week we made chicken fajitas, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. It really is better if you marinate them, like it says you should.

Spring!

Per our M.O. it's been a little while since we last posted (seriously?! February 17th?). Both a lot and a little has happened in that time. Our snow has melted (all of it!) and we've had some really nice days. Of course, right now it's cloudy, mid 40s, breezy, and about to rain for the next day so we're taking advantage of the "nice" weather and grilling some chicken. Rachel has received word on her schedule of clerkships for next year. We've celebrated Easter and Logan's birthday. I'm working, again. Rachel planted seeds for our garden that will be at our new apartment/house. I drove ten hours to get some leather seats for my car, and I've also done a few other improvements. Like installing a "new" instrument cluster (which you'll learn all about, right here).

Right. So a long time ago I was perusing my TDI forum and came across a posting on how to install an FIS cluster in my car. I read it, of course, and decided that it was something that I would never do. It really didn't seem like anything special. Sure, it replaced the center part of my cluster with an LCD screen that showed miles til empty, fuel mpg, average speed, trip distance and time, outside air temp, and radio station. Big deal. It also had silver faces and different needles. Oooooo.

Fast forward a few years and insert a bored, winter-bound me in my previous place. I've sort of been bitten by the OEM+ bug. That is, I am driven to upgrade my car with factory options (like VW or Audi). For instance, I installed a "comfort clicker" which enables the blinker to blink three times from a single press. Sure, it seems ... lame .. bit it's awesome. And it wasn't a standard (or optional) feature on our cars (in the US). So I added it. Back to the cluster (which was a European TDI option, but not available in the US, of course): it was the beginning of March and I was sick of winter and I needed a project. Queue project. 

I had finally worked up the courage to undertake this project (perhaps removing my engine and transmission last year had something to do with this new courage?). There were a few ways to go about it. The easiest way to do this would have been to buy a European FIS cluster and program it (teach it to recognize my keys, essentially) for my car. This would run me about $400 for the cluster. If it was reset to a new condition, I could do the key programming myself, with the car computer program I already have. Option two would be to find a cluster from a Passat W8 (that would be an eight cylinder Passat, of which there were only a few thousand sold in the US) and take the circuit board out of it and then install it into a Jetta housing. This would also require me to solder on an LED and an resistor for the glow plug light, to change out the foils (gauge faces) for ones from a TDI (different red-line on the tach and max speed on the speedometer), and to reprogram it completely so the computer could account for these new scales (3k rpm isn't in the same place on a tach scaled to 5.6k rpm and 8k rpm). 

After I decided that it was something I could, and wanted to, do I had to find a cluster. I lucked out and scored one on Craigsslist for $80! The seller was willing to ship it for that price and so a few days later I had my victim. She said it wasn't a problem and was happy to help out a fellow Passat owner! (exclamation point included). I didn't have the heart to tell her I was going to rip it apart and put it in a Jetta.

Anyway. I also managed to get a similar deal on an entire cluster from a 2004 Jetta Wagon TDI. This was great news, too, because the '04 TDIs came with the silver sport faces (which, IMO, look better than the black OEM faces). After lots and lots of reading, I started my project.

Just kidding. One new thing I came across while reading my forums was this thing called inverting an LCD display. Initially, I read it and thought it was stupid and pointless. And then I changed my mind. In a nutshell it's explained in this picture:

The clock on the left is inverted when compared to the odometer on the right. The individual digits are lit up on the inverted display, where on the standard display the numbers are back-lit.

Got it? Well, as you can see I changed my mind and added a new project to my project. Inverting displays is a project in and of itself because in order to do it you need two of each display. First, take one clock LCD. The top layer of film on the screen is polarized. And glued, very securely, to the LCD. The object here is to separate the film from the glass WITHOUT scratching the film. I achieved this (after two tries) by soaking it in rubbing alcohol and using a razor blade to split them. Then it's necessary to clean all the glue off the film (still without scratching the film). Once that's finished, take your second LCD screen and peel off the back layer of films. This will leave you with the LCD screen with the top polarizing layer and the piece of glass. Once all the glue is cleaned off the back of the glass you need to orient the films so they cancel each other out. Anyone who's taken a physics class knows what I mean. If you haven't, or can't remember, polarizing film works by allowing light to come through in only one orientation. If you take two films and hold them ninety degrees to each other, no light will pass though. This is what we want (for this). So. Orient them properly, trim them to fit (the front is larger than the back and the LCD has contacts on the rear so you have to trim it in order to get the electrical connection to function), and then glue them together. Without any air bubbles. If you wish to read more (and see some progress pictures), go here.

So that took a while. I also learned that Passat clocks and odometers were different that those from a Jetta or Golf so that was exciting. When I actually did the inversion I only had two chances to get it right. Thankfully I got it on the first try both times (clock and odometer).

In the meantime I had lots of electrical/computer things to do. One of these was to change some LEDs on the cluster. The center screen on the FIS is red. As you can see in the above picture, the OEM color for the displays is blue. I decided that blue and red wouldn't float my boat and the LEDs behind the displays were easier to change. So, I did some soldering. These aren't the actual display LEDs, but they'll give you an idea of what 3.2mm x 2.8mm looks like:

LEDs are the little white rectangles. The one in the center is for the glow plug light I soldered that one. The little black things are resistors. I soldered one of those, too. There's way smaller, like two grains of short rice, and way harder to solder.

You'll notice there's also a corner that's "clipped" on the LED. That denotes polarity. In other words, if it's soldered in backwards, it won't work. I had decided to change the turn signal LEDs from green to blue (the gauge backlights are blue) and had unsoldered the original LEDs without making note of their orientation Doh! I managed to get them right by going to a junkyard and pulling apart a Passat cluster to check...

Long story longer.... I figured out how to make my currently owned car computer software talk to my new instrument cluster. Normally, this would require a different cable AND software (non-pirated versions selling for around $400). I managed to find a guy in the UK who got his cable to talk by downloading some free drivers, and then I got real software for free (completely legally!). That Sunday morning I felt like a genius and couldn't stop smiling (it's true - ask Rachel). 

With that hurdle down, I now had the task of actually programming the cluster. This meant I had to learn how to read hex. I won't bore you with those details here (I'm sure you're bored enough already), but let me just say that it looks like alien garble. Here's a screenshot:

Looks like fun, right? Right?!

Anywho. I added more to this project by including some European and "hidden" mods, too, like making my temperature gauge show the ACTUAL coolant temp, rather than showing it at operating temp for any temperature from 170* to 210*, and by changing the cruise control light on the dash to make it only light up when cruise is ACTUALLY being used, not just when the switch is turned on and the speed isn't set. Additionally, I enabled lit needles and displays, meaning the LEDs behind the clock, odometer, and needles would light up whenever the ignition is on. And there's a Welcome message that displays when I turn the car on (and am buckled up - which is all the time). 

So, with all that taken care of and my new displays on, and my new needles (from an MKV - a Jetta the next body style up), and my new LEDs, and my new foils, I then got to load the new software and run output tests to make sure the needles lined up where the computer said they should (tach at 3k rpm, fuel and temp in the middle, and speedometer at 100 kph). Once that passed it was time to install it into the car. And run some additional wiring. I'd bore you about that, too, but my fingers are getting tired and this is already way too long for most of your attention spans. Or rather, interest spans. On to the pics of the installation:

Nearly ready to install into the housing. The 180mph scale is from the Passat. You'll notice the red display backlighting and the MKV silver-lined needles.

In the housing! And with the TDI sport foils, as the scale is only to 160mph now.

That's a roll of masking tape hanging off the steering column. It was not used to hold anything together permanently.

This used to scare me.

I also changed my air filter while installing the outside air temp sensor.

See? Welcome!

Last night I started working on a different cluster and am changing the backlights to white. I'll see if I like it...

This one only has a half screen computer display. And, for some reason, the trip and odometer displays are flipped.... I have no idea why. I changed the turn indicators (and high beam light) to red on this one.

So that was how I kept myself entertained during the end of this winter.

Rachel made me a fantastic birthday meal, too! She seared some lamb in butter, rosemary, and garlic, and then finished it off by roasting it in the oven (+1 for cast iron). This was served with a micro-greens salad and some white wine. Chocolate cake was for dessert.

You may also (barely) recall that I mentioned we were moving into a new apartment. This is true, we are. We found a house over by the hospital that fits our needs perfectly. We'll be able to keep Denali with us, there's a garage, it's close to work, the hospital, and the Co-Op, and the rent is reasonable. There's even counter space!! We'll be sharing it with another roommate, who is doing her residency at the hospital. It is also located near a recreation area, so there are trails to ski, run, and bike. And a pond for Denali to swim in. Overall, we're pretty stoked about it and are excited to move in.

If you've made it this far, congratulations. Until the next installment.....

We're Not Dead, Yet

Well, good news: we aren't dead. For those of you who aren't on Facebook or don't have any other way of contacting us, you can stop fretting now.

According to our log on page the last date we posted was Nov. 20th. November. Ha. That's last year... A lot has happened since then: Rachel's passed many tests at school, we've received snow storms, rain storms, ice storms, and have had a skating rink for a driveway for a number of weeks now, I've started a new job, left, and was just hired for something else, I've ironed more times in the past eight weeks than I have my entire life, etc. You get the drift. We've lived, life's gone on, the world still turns.

Some highlights: 85% (approx.) of the gifts we received (or gave) for Christmas are kitchen-related. This includes a Le Creuset enameled cast iron skillet (which, oddly, I'm scared to use), a set of Wustof knives (chef's, utility, paring, bread), a KitchenAid immersion blender, a Wustof herb mincing thing, a Wustof wine and cheese set (are you noticing a trend?), some spice racks, Fletcher Mills salt and pepper grinder (made in Maine), and some cloth napkins. Nearly all of these have been put to use many times.

Yes, it looks pink. It was cooked to temperature and was very tasty.

These have made an appearance many times.

Valentine's dinner. The center piece is baked brie. The leftovers were eaten as breakfast the next morning.

So, that's the food front. We've made some pretty good meals and are trying to branch out more. We've had broiled haddock (with a paprika/cayenne/garlic/onion powder/pepper rub), pork roasts (fennel and rosemary), lamb, steak with mushroom sauce, a blueberry cake thing (currently on the chopping block), found a good DIY taco mix, slow cooked chicken, chicken with olives and grapes (we've - or I've - drooled over this recipe for ages. We finally made it when a friend from Chile stopped by for dinner), rice, wine, beer, etc. It's all been pretty good. We also refinished my big cast iron skillet last weekend. It was super simple: attach wire brush to drill, go at the pan like none other, wash it all out, place in 350* oven for fifteen minutes, remove and coat with oil (we used Crisco because we didn't have oil available), place back in oven for at least an hour. Bam. Done. We haven't used it yet, but the rust is all gone (and so is the mold...) and it's all nice and shiny. We'll have to put it to use soon.

Food. Done.

Life. I've spent a fair bit of time outside. Not a whole lot. With these "Polar Vorti" (what's the plural of vortex? There isn't a red line under "vortexes" but that just sounds LAME) it's been, um, cold. We had a few good snow storms in February and I went out skiing a few times. Just last weekend we warmed up into the mid-forties and got rain. BLEAH! So now all that's left is super crusty and a deathtrap. My skiing is done for now. On the plus side, the skiing which I was able to do was un-believable. I'm talking about feet of powder (for the NE). It's too bad my Bolton Valley friend isn't here any more :( I'm sure she could have shown me how to shred the VT backcountry. Anyway. I tried my best.

NH - Mt. Cardigan. Awesome.

This ended up being a pretty tiring day. But worth it, of course.

This was a good storm. I think this was the morning of the 14th.

First trip to Camel's Hump. Went too far North on the way down and had a bit of an adventure.

I have spent many, many hours driving on roads like this. I appreciate my limited slip differential more and more.
I also LOVE driving on roads like this.

This is the only picture from this day. I had too much fun on the way down to take any more.
20+" of powder. Thank you, VT.

Other than skiing I've spent some quality time with my car. She needed her glow plugs replaced. Of course two of the three I replaced had the threads in the cylinder head messed up. That meant I had to chase them with a tap. At least I have a small set of metric taps now. Craftsman, of course, didn't sell the right size in the big metric tap and die set so I had to buy a little tiny set. Oh well. I didn't change the fourth because it was too cold to try to get at it - maybe in the summer.

After that was all fixed I had the lucky opportunity to have my fuel gel up. I usually put additives into the fuel when I fill up (especially in the winter) but this time I didn't, for some unknown reason (perhaps it was too cold to stand outside for any longer than necessary?). Regardless, I put in some Diesel 911, cracked the injector lines, and we got her all back to normal. Now, of course, I'm paranoid.

Stella also had her control arms replaced, which allowed her to have the front swaybar re-connected. This hasn't been attached since before our trip. Let's just say that corners are way more fun now. I also replaced her low tone horn, which now fully functions for the first time since I've owned her. Parents: the horn worked before, it was just pathetic.

I'm now a VT resident.

Rachel went to Haiti for a week in the beginning of January. She had a great time, but came back looking a little worse for the wear. Example: her right eye was nearly swollen shut. Apparently there were some biting insects she had a reaction to.

We've been ice skating a few times. The LaRoccas got me skates for Christmas (and a ski helmet, which I've also used) and we've found a lake with a 4.5 mile loop that is maintained. The last time we went Rachel bought the farm and ended up with a pretty disgusting bruise on her left hip and knee. Everything's back to normal now.

I've managed to sell some car parts I've been hauling around for a while: an old set of snow tires, a turn signal/windshield wiper stalk I've had since 2009, a set of cupholders, and a pair of ski boots I've had since 2010 that I've only used three times.

And the big news: I start a new job on Monday. I'll be working for a company that builds lights and lighting systems for airplanes. I sort of view this as a tribute to Dad and Gramps: Dad because it's all electrical, and Gramps because he used to work for Grumman. I'm excited because I'll learn tons of new things, like reading blueprints, fancy soldering skills, electro-mechanical assembly, general electrical knowledge. I think it will be cool. There's also an on-site machine shop...

By now you're probably super bored, so I'll just leave you be.